In the CPP, there were three truths; Nkrumah – the Messiah, Gbedemah – Apostle Peter, and Adamafio – Apostle Paul.
From the beginning, the CYO, the youth wing of the UGCC had Gbedemah as Chairman and Botsio as Secretary. When Nkrumah resigned from UGCC, CYO followed him and became the nucleus of CPP.
The hierarchy followed, Nkrumah became the leader of CPP and Gbedemah his deputy and Botsio the secretary. This was in June 1949.
Positive Action in January 1950, Nkrumah and 11 others were arrested and jailed. Gbedemah led CPP for 13months and whipped UGCC in the February 1951 elections 34-2. Nkrumah was released on the basis of this landslide and within a year he was Prime Minister. Thank you Gbedemah.
Adamafio and Ako Adjei did not leave UGCC until sometime in 1953 after Ghana Congress Party split into Busia and Danquah camps.
Ironically, it was Gbedemah who ‘’baptized’’ Adamafio into CPP. And Nkrumah confirmed TA into the CPP with these words – ‘’you were once Saul, now you are Paul.’’ TA really took the mantle of Paul and worked harder than all those who were before him. Like Paul, TA was the hottest critic of Nkrumah before he joined CPP.
The natural number 2 was Gbedemah but in no time TA became the functional #2. The party was split in the middle between the socialist faction led by TA and those he called reactionary, led by Afro Gbede. Both guys were powerful campaigners that Nkrumah could have employed maximally, but he didn’t. He fell for TA’s expert propaganda.
TA got Gbedemah out believing NKrumah would protect him against Afro Gbede's larger constituency in the party.
10months after Afro left, Adamafio was arrested by Nkrumah.
Immediately after Adamafio’s arrest, Gbedemah from London wrote a very long and damning letter to Nkrumah teasing him about the arrest of his 2 senior ministers and the head of his party. The most interesting part of the letter was Gbedemah’s prophesy that Nkrumah was going to go. He was dead sure that with Adamafio out of the way, the job was finished. He was right.
“Let me assure you Kwame that Ghana will not suffer too long under the iron dictatorship you set out to build in 1949 under the guise and clarion call of “self-government now” and “democracy”. The end is approaching of your intrigues and deception of the people. We who rallied to your side and suffered and worked hard to build you up, little dreamt that when it was all over, we would be the first victims in an unholy purge staged in a manner to make the people feel that we had committed heinous crimes and therefore they would not raise a finger of protest in spite of all they know we had done in service of our country.’’ Gbedemah. Open letter to Nkrumah September 1962.
The staged propaganda and 1949 were in direct reference to Adamafio who wasn’t in the party then. Dzenkle Dzewu who volunteered his back as table for frightened Nkrumah to write his resignation letter from UGCC and who raised Nkrumah’s hand at the Arena to declare Positive Action was in jail.
At the end of 1962, Kwame was a lonely Messiah, no Apostle Peter or Apostle Paul. Easy meat. When Awoonor wrote that ‘’paradoxically, it was Nkrumah who destroyed the CPP’’ he knew what he meant. When Genoveva Kanu (nee Marais), the old man’s ‘’something’’ wrote that Kwame was morbidly paranoid, she knew what she meant.
Why would he not be paranoid? Somehow, within 10months, he has either chased his natural deputy away or put his functional deputy into jail. Who would he trust? Tribesmen.
When people talk about oppressors overthrowing Nkrumah, I laugh at them. Gbedemah always talked about his enemies in CPP and Adamafio also always talked about his enemies in the same party. How? How can a party of rival enemies survive? CPP destroyed CPP through expert propaganda and pure disinformation.
Tswa omanye aba!